OMB Budget Blueprint Excerpt for NASA “Provides $1.8 billion for a focused, balanced Earth science portfolio that supports the priorities of the science and applications communities, a savings of $102 million from the 2017 annualized CR level. The Budget terminates four Earth science missions (PACE, OCO-3, DSCOVR Earth-viewing instruments, and CLARREO Pathfinder) and reduces funding for Earth science research grants.” Keith’s note: I asked NASA PAO “Which “Earth-viewing instruments” on […]
Deep Space Climate Observatory Captures EPIC Earth Image “A NASA camera on the Deep Space Climate Observatory satellite has returned its first view of the entire sunlit side of Earth from one million miles away.” “This color image of Earth was taken by NASA’s Earth Polychromatic Imaging Camera (EPIC), a four megapixel CCD camera and telescope. The image was generated by combining three separate images to create a photographic-quality image. […]
DSCOVR Launched (with video) “The SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket carrying NOAA’s Deep Space Climate Observatory spacecraft, or DSCOVR, lifts off from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida.” Keith’s update: DSCOVR has been launched and is now in orbit. Al Gore’s silicon avatar has left the planet after a 17 year wait.
Assessment of the Triana Mission, G-99-013, Final Report, 10 September 1999, NASA OIG “When the Triana mission was announced in March 1998, NASA hoped to keep the project’s cost close to $20 million and definitely below $50 million. … NASA did not maintain the original budget goal of $20 to $50 million. Instead, NASA chose to increase the size and complexity of the Triana spacecraft, primarily to augment its scientific […]
NASA Television will provide live coverage of a news briefing on the Deep Space Climate Observatory (DSCOVR) mission “NASA Television will provide live coverage of a news briefing on the Deep Space Climate Observatory (DSCOVR) mission, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) new satellite mission to monitor space weather, at 1 p.m. EST Saturday, Feb. 7 from the Press Site at Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The briefing also […]
Al Gore’s dream spacecraft gears up for launch, Nature “For Jay Herman, an atmospheric scientist at Goddard and EPIC instrument scientist, the delay has a silver lining: the refurbishment revealed a manufacturing defect in EPIC that would have let in stray light and potentially ruined its image of Earth. The delay allowed enough time to study the problem and correct for it. “So in some ways,” says Herman, “I’m very […]
DSCOVR Mission Passes Major Milestones “NOAA will manage the DSCOVR mission, giving advanced warning of approaching solar storms. NASA, funded by NOAA, refurbished the DSCOVR satellite and instruments, which were in storage for several years. The U.S. Air Force is funding and overseeing the launch of DSCOVR, which will be aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket.” Keith’s note: In storage for “several years”? It would be more accurate to say […]
Once-derided climate-change satellite may launch with new goal “An Earth observation satellite conceived by former Vice President Al Gore — but banished to a Maryland warehouse by foes of climate change after George W. Bush beat Gore for the presidency — could get a ride into space as early as 2014. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration wants about $23 million next year to continue a quiet reboot of the […]
